The aim of this study is to utilize the electromembrane extraction (EME) system as a manner for effective removal of zinc from aqueous solutions. A novel and distinctive electrochemical cell design was adopted consisting of two glass chambers, a supported liquid membrane (SLM) housing a polypropylene flat membrane infused with 1-octanol and a carrier. Two electrodes were used, a graphite as anode and a stainless steel as cathode. A comprehensive examination of several influential factors including the choice of carrier, the applied voltage magnitude, the initial pH of the donor solution, and the initial concentration of zinc was performed, all in a concerted effort to ascertain their respective impacts on the efficiency of zinc elimination. Two distinct carriers, namely tris(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (TEHP) and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (DEHP) were evaluated, in a tandem with utilization of 1-octanol. The results revealed essential role played by the applied voltage in augmenting the rate of mass transfer of zinc across the membrane. The best operating conditions were utilized for 1-octanol enriched with 1.0 vol.% bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate as a carrier, applied voltage of 60 V, initial pH of 5, initial zinc concentration of 15 mg L-1, extraction duration of 6 hours, and stirring rate of 1000 rpm. Surprisingly, operating under these meticulously devised conditions culminated in the outstanding removal efficiency of 87.3 %. In comparison with no applied voltage, a substantial enhancement in removal efficiency was observed, transcending from a meager 36.67 % to an impressive 87.3 % at 60 V, suggesting thus a tremendous potential of EME as an efficacious technique for the elimination of heavy metals.
Digital forensics has become a fundamental requirement for law enforcement due to the growing volume of cyber and computer-assisted crime. Whilst existing commercial tools have traditionally focused upon string-based analyses (e.g., regular expressions, keywords), less effort has been placed towards the development of multimedia-based analyses. Within the research community, more focus has been attributed to the analysis of multimedia content; they tend to focus upon highly specialised specific scenarios such as tattoo identification, number plate recognition, suspect face recognition and manual annotation of images. Given the ever-increasing volume of multimedia content, it is essential that a holistic Multimedia-Forensic Analysis Tool (M-
... Show MoreTeresa Fitzpatrick presents a connection between oppressed women and the plant of Wisteria in gothic fiction in her article “Wisteria: A Female Eco-Gothic Metaphor in American Fiction Through the Ages.” The connection between women and nature is common in literature as women are usually compared to the beauty or ferocity of flowers, rivers, or natural phenomena in general. The connection extends to the architecture and sort of plants that appear in gothic literature. Gothic novels have routinely been connected to the secrets and life stories of women who cannot have the liberty to live or share them outside their homes. A fearful house with a prisoned person, ghost, or a secret is mostly normally found in gothic writing. Women have exce
... Show MoreSynthetic anti-TB drugs are being used to treat tuberculosis (TB) as they are effective, however, they are accompanied by many side effects. The disease has remained largely uncured till date. The use of plant extracts or phytochemicals along with the anti-TB drugs is a very attractive strategy to make the treatment more effective as phytochemicals have no side-effects, are much less toxic than synthetic anti-TB drugs, are safe to use and most importantly, do not produce resistant strains as opposed to synthetic anti-TB drugs. Approximately 420,000 plant species have been identified globally and among them only a few have been explored for their therapeutic potential. Traditional medicine in different parts of the world has employed crud
... Show MoreNanosponges (NS) of etodolac(ETO) was prepared using the emulsion solvent diffusion method ; the effects of drug: polymer ratio, the effect of level concentration of internal phase and stirring time and other variables that effect on the physical characteristics of NS were investigated and characterized, The selected formula was lyophilized then incorporated into hydrogel ; which also evaluated .The results show that the formulation that contain Drug: PVA:EC in ratio 1:3:2 is the best with smallest particle size 40.2±0.098 with polydispersibility0.005 and in vitro release 97.6±0.11%, , ETO NS Carbopol hydrogel produced a significant(p<0.05) improvement of the in vitro release than pure ETO hydrogel.
Ultraviolet photodetectors have been widely utilized in several applications, such as advanced communication, ozone sensing, air purification, flame detection, etc. Gallium nitride and its compound semiconductors have been promising candidates in photodetection applications. Unlike polar gallium nitride-based optoelectronics, non-polar gallium nitride-based optoelectronics have gained huge attention due to the piezoelectric and spontaneous polarization effect–induced quantum confined-stark effect being eliminated. In turn, non-polar gallium nitride-based photodetectors portray higher efficiency and faster response compared to the polar growth direction. To date, however, a systematic literature review of non-polar gallium nitride-
... Show MoreThe inflammatory response is a crucial aspect of the tissues’ responses to deleterious inflammogens. This complex response involves leukocytes cells such as macrophages, neutrophils, and lymphocytes, also known as inflammatory cells. In response to the inflammatory process, these cells release specialized substances which include vasoactive amines and peptides, eicosanoids, proinflammatory cytokines, and acute-phase proteins, which mediate the inflammatory process by preventing further tissue damage and ultimately resulting in healing and restoration of tissue function. This review discusses the role of the inflammatory cells as well as their by-products in the mediation of inflammatory process. A brief insight into the role of natural an
... Show MoreIn this paper, a new hybrid algorithm for linear programming model based on Aggregate production planning problems is proposed. The new hybrid algorithm of a simulated annealing (SA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms. PSO algorithm employed for a good balance between exploration and exploitation in SA in order to be effective and efficient (speed and quality) for solving linear programming model. Finding results show that the proposed approach is achieving within a reasonable computational time comparing with PSO and SA algorithms.